Major Lorne's Apology
by Dr.AriannaJackson
Summary: Some slight spoiler's for Season 4's Doppelganger. Major Lorne attempts to apologize to Lt. Col. Sheppard, and does succeed before Shepprd throws hima curve ball that has him going for a loop! not slash! some language


Major Evan Lorne felt terrible. After waking up from his uncomfortable stunning (courtesy of Ronon) several days ago and being told what he had almost done to his commanding officer, Lorne decided that it would be best if he could just go crawl in a hole somewhere and die in peace.

And the worst part was he had yet to apologize to said commanding officer. Granted, he had tried but Col. Sheppard had just waved him off. Although said Colonel was in the infirmary hooked up to an IV after helping Dr. McKay through his ordeal with the entity. Lorne supposed he wouldn't be willing to listen to an apology at that point either.

But that still left him with the problem of needing to apologize. Lorne, while fairly certain that Col. Sheppard wouldn't hold it against him, needed to clear his conscience and get it off his chest so could sleep without waking up from the nightmare of actually shooting the Colonel. Which was exactly why he was standing outside his CO's office at o'dark thirty in the morning, knocking on his door.

Normally, since it was so early, he wouldn't have bothered, but he knew that the Colonel and quite a few others were having trouble sleeping, and since his release from the infirmary two days ago, the Colonel had been holing himself up in his office till all hours of the morning. He only knew this little pearl of wisdom because one of the sergeants on night patrol had stumbled upon Col. Sheppard and had been so surprised, he had put it in his report the next morning.

A muffled call of "It's open!" prompted Lorne to open the door and peak inside. Col. Sheppard sat in his chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by stacks of mission reports, inquiries, requests, and a waste basket overflowing with paper balls. Arm raised to toss another ball into his "hoop", Sheppard grinned at his 2IC.

"Major Lorne, come on in. I'm just tidying up a bit. If you move those two stacks right there, you should find a chair." He nodded to two teetering stacks of paper to the left of his desk, while tossing his ball into the waste basket. "Yes! Nothing but net!" Chuckling, he turned back to Lorne who hadn't moved from his doorway. "Something I can do for you at," here he glanced at his watch and lifted an eyebrow in faint amusement, "0247 in the morning major?"

Swallowing, the Lorne stepped inside, but made new move to sit down. "Actually, sir there is." Gathering his wits, Lorne steeled himself and opened his mouth……and was interrupted as Sheppard abruptly twirled around in his chair, opened his mini fridge and grabbed a six pack.

"Let's go outside Major." Nodding mutely in relative surprise, Lorne followed the Colonel to the nearest transporter and out onto what looked like the East Pier. "Have a seat Lorne and have a beer." Watching the Colonel plunk himself down, long legs hanging over the edge, Lorne slowly sunk down next to him and took the proffered open beer. "Now, what's on your mind?" Sheppard asked taking a swig of his own beer.

"Well, you see sir, I wanted to apologize for what happened before. I was totally out of line." Lorne swallowed, swishing his beer around but not taking a drink yet.

"Lorne, you know you couldn't help it. Hell, not only were you asleep, you were being influenced by an alien entity that _I_ brought to Atlantis! It wasn't your fault."

"Yes sir, I know that, but I still could have killed you! I almost shot Col. Carter as well! I could have potentially killed the two most senior staff on this expedition!" Lorne said, slightly frustrated at his commander's seemingly nonchalance attitude. "All of your eccentricities aside sir, your one of the best, hell, you are the best commanding officer I've had the privilege of serving under!" Blushing hotly at his admission, Lorne suddenly downed half his beer in one go.

"Well, thank you but it still wasn't your fault. If anything it was my fault. If I hadn't touched the damn crystal, none of this would have happened. No one would have had the nightmares; you wouldn't have almost shot me, Dr. Heightmeyer would still be alive, Rodney wouldn't have almost died, and I wouldn't have been able to hand my own ass to me on a silver platter. So you see Lorne, none of this was your fault. It was just some shitty twist of fate. Besides, I'm still here, still in one piece, and have no new holes to speak of. I'll just have to remember to tell Ronon not to wait so long. I was beginning to worry." With a chuckle, Sheppard swished his beer around in the can before taking a swallow.

Nodding mutely, Lorne glanced over at the Colonel, before letting out a sigh of relief. He and everyone else on the Atlantis expedition were really lucky to have gotten Sheppard as the military commander. He was an excellent commander, and an even better man. Chuckling to himself, Lorne downed the rest of his beer and stood up. "Thank you, sir." Turning to walk away, he paused when the Colonel called out to him. Turning slightly, he saw the major still looking out over the water, beer still in hand. "Sir?"

"Just one question Major. Tell me, do you dream about me often?" Glancing back as Lorne sputtered and turned an interesting shade of red, Sheppard laughed loudly as his 2IC all but ran back to the transporter.

SGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGA

Bwahahahahaha! I got this idea while watching Doppelganger and nearly spit out my coke laughing when the thought struck me that Lorne had been dreaming about Sheppard (even if it was only because of the entity!) My exact thought was, "Pffft! And do you dream of Sheppard often?" and then I thought it would make a funny fic!

Oh and since I didn't do it at the beginning:

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THEM!! (although I am auditioning for a part in Stargate Universe!!)

Please review! Or not and just bask in the laughter I have hopefully given you!

Goddess bless!!


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